Twin brothers believed to be the last of Australia’s bushrangers have revealed the one mistake which led to their capture after decades robbing banks and TABs.
Peter and Doug Morgan, known as the ‘After Dark Bandits’, were the sons of notorious criminal Kay Morgan, who in 1949, was finally apprehended after a bank robbery went wrong.
Kay was confronted by a bank officer he attempted to shoot his way out of the Eltham State Bank despite being empty handed – only to crash his getaway vehicle into a nearby ditch.
He was apprehended one month later and spent three years locked up behind bars for the failed robbery.
Peter and Doug’s criminal rein came to an abrupt end in eerily similar circumstances after an attempted heist didn’t go to plan.
One night, Peter decided to try his luck at robbing the same bank for a third time but things did not turn out the way he planned (pictured one of the twins robbing a bank)
The twins fell into a life of crime in the late 1970s after a dip in the building industry meant they were no longer able to make a decent dollar working as contractors.
In a desperate bid to get some cash, they spent the next two years on a crime spree, and successfully raided at least 24 banks and TABs across Victoria.
During their rein, the brothers ran rings around police by wearing the exact same clothing while ambushing different locations at the same time.
‘We had the coppers running all over the place,’ Doug told A Current Affair.
‘To be serious, they had no idea, they were running around in circles, could not get near us. But we planned it like that for our own safety.’
The pair would use several different methods of escape from motorbikes and canoes to taxis from outside the area, and occasionally they would hitch-hike to flee the scene of the crime.
Most of their robberies were committed at night to allow for easy escape back into safety.
They would then remain on the down-low for a while before committing their next burglary similar to a bushranger.
The twins would wear the same clothing when committing the burglary and different locations to confuse police (pictured far left in mask one of the twins)
A bushranger commonly referred to a career criminal in the 1800s and 1900s who used desolate areas of the bush as a base and made their everyday earnings from ‘robbery under arms’.
But on one ill-fated night in April 1979 the identical brother’s elicit acts were put to an end.
Peter wanted to try his luck and rob the Heathcote CBC bank for a third time.
But things didn’t turn out the way he had planned and during the robbery he shot Senior Constable Ray Koch, twice.
Peter than forced Constable Koch into the bank before he fled with $11,000.
Miraculously Constable Koch survived the double shooting, despite a bullet being found lodged in his heart, and went onto live for another 16 years.
Peter was arrested the next day after he was spotted walking down the street by police officer Rick Hasty.
Mr Hasty said he had an unwavering hunch that the man he had seen had shot Constable Koch and so he followed the suspect.
The pair had a brief confrontation before Peter attempted to pull out a gun on Mr Hasty.
But Mr Hasty was able to remove the gun from Peter’s hands and threatened him if he made a move.
‘I said, ‘you f****** move and I’ll kill you as you stand there’,’ Mr Hasty told the new programme.
Peter (right) and Doug (left) Morgan were dubbed the ‘After Dark Bandit’ in the 1970s after pulling off a bunch of robberies.
Although the brothers had always vowed that if one of them were to be arrested they would give the other twin 12 hours to lay low before confessing all to the police.
However, Peter gave Doug up almost immediately after his arrest which led to their 17 year imprisonment in Pentridge Prison.
To this day Peter regrets giving up his brother and said he does not wish imprisonment on anyone.